Prosecutors seek $4.2 million from Schneiders

Stephen and Linda Schneider should forfeit more than $4.2 million in assets to help pay for their crimes, federal prosecutors told a federal judge Friday.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Annette Gurney and Tanya Treadway filed a motion asking U.S. District Judge Monti Belot to award the government the money to help pay back money the Schneiders illegally obtained during their crimes.

A jury convicted the former Haysville doctor and his wife, a nurse, in June of illegally prescribing drugs, causing patient deaths, health care fraud and money laundering.

In a pleading filed Friday, prosecutors say the Schneiders should forfeit $4,243,392 through proceeds from the sale of their medical clinic earlier this summer, as well as personal property and bank accounts.

Prosecutors are also asking for the forfeiture of Stephen Schneider's medical license, which was suspended by the State Board of Healing Arts in January 2008, a month after the couple's arrest.

Earlier this week, Belot rejected a second defense request for a new trial or an order of acquittal for the Schneiders. He ruled there was sufficient evidence to support the convictions.